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House Explosion Rocks Glendale Heights

UPDATED 02/16/11 1:25 p.m.

GLENDALE HEIGHTS, Ill. (CBS/WBBM) -- A house explosion rocked west suburban Glendale Heights Wednesday morning, and left one person seriously injured

The explosion happened in the 8 a.m. hour at 404 E. Altgeld Ave. in Glendale Heights. A person inside the house called police and reported the explosion.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Julie Mann reports

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"On arrival, officers located a male victim just inside front entrance the home," said Glendale Heights Deputy Police Chief Tom Bialas said.

Once inside the home, Bialas said, fireworks were found, and the DuPage County Sheriff's hazardous device team was called in.

Several nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution, and fire crews turned off the gas meter.

Nicor gas responded at 8:45 a.m., and a crew arrived 15 minutes later to lock the gas meter. Crews determined the explosion was not caused by natural gas, spokesman Richard Caragol said.

Officers also evacuated 10 homes in the area of the explosion and asked other area residents to either leave their homes or remain inside as the investigation took place.

The exact cause of the explosion remained under investigation early Wednesday afternoon.

The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.

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